Mentoring for young people leaving care
| DOI | 10.1177/026455050605300208 |
| Date | 01 June 2006 |
| Published date | 01 June 2006 |
| Author | Sarah Dubberley |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Mentoring for young people leaving care
Mentoring has evolved over the years to encompass a whole range of areas, from
the workplace, to educational support, Probation, Youth Offending Teams and
Children Looked after Teams. This report, ‘Mentoring for young people leaving
care’, reflects and builds on research carried out by York University.
Mentoring is a voluntary one-to-one relationship between the mentee and a
supportive adult, being the mentor. It is important to emphasize the voluntary
nature of this relationship for both parties; mentors are volunteers and mentoring
works best when the mentee makes a voluntary commitment to have a mentor.
Mentoring is more than befriending and aims to make constructive changes in the
life and behaviour of the offender.
All mentoring relationships require a high level of trust from both sides; well-
trained mentors who work with mentees will have to demonstrate empathy and
respect and will be positive motivators in the life of the individual. The relation-
ship is person-centred and involves a holistic approach. The process of mentor-
ing can and does make the difference in the life of the individual.
In response to the vulnerability of care leavers, mentoring for young people
who have experience of the care system, was set up during 1998 in partnership
with the Prince’s Trust, Camelot Foundation and National Children’s Bureau. The
research report specifically examined a two-year period of young people between
the ages of 15 and 23, being mentored between 2000 and 2002.
The research focuses on ongoing and long-term mentoring relationships lasting
from the minimum of six months to the maximum of three years with young people
leaving care. Focus for the mentoring relationship, was concerned with the
experience of leaving care and establishing the young people within their own
independent living environment. In carrying out the research, examining the
experiences and outcomes of young people leaving care, interviews were
conducted with young people, their mentors and project workers. A major strength
of this report is that, throughout the research, the views and opinions of both the
young people and the mentors were expressed.
The mentoring relationships combined ‘instrumental’ mentoring which is linked
to ‘hard’ outcomes, such as employment, education or training, or reducing
offending behaviour, and ‘expressive’ mentoring linked to ‘soft’ outcomes, such
as self esteem, confidence and personal development. The mentoring relationship
was found to be important and influential in providing the young people with a
different kind of support as they make a difficult transition. It was evident from the
research that the mentoring relationship had a significant impact upon the
mentors as well as the young people. Mentors felt that they had ‘improved their
skills and confidence in helping young people and, as a consequence, most
wanted to work with young people’ (p. 6).
What was particularly interesting from the research and relevant to future
mentoring projects was the suggested improvements from both the young people
and the mentors themselves. These suggestions varied from the matching process
of a mentor and mentee, to the training and support of mentors. It is encourag-
ing to see that mentoring is continuing to develop and has expanded to include
Probation Journal
172 53(2)
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